Free Web NovelChapter 187: Chapter 184: The Rainy Season Arrives Again
The reason Cyan Essence Water Grass attracted waves of Cultivators was, naturally, due to its immense value.
Consuming Cyan Essence Water Grass improved one’s physique, talent, and Divine Soul. Even without aspiring to the Soul Emergence Realm, it guaranteed a smooth, unobstructed path through the Qi Introduction Late Stage.
Furthermore, by cultivating step-by-step, as long as no accidents occurred, reaching the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer was highly probable.
If one’s fortune and opportunities were good enough,
it was not entirely impossible that they might one day have a sliver of a chance to reach the Soul Emergence Realm.
This also meant
that by consuming Cyan Essence Water Grass,
as long as one’s development was stable,
reaching the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer was practically guaranteed.
This point
was undoubtedly extremely attractive to many Immortal Cultivation Clans and regional Immortal Cultivation Forces.
Although a Cultivator at the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer Realm could now be casually destroyed by Shen Changchuan,
in reality, a Cultivator at the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer Realm
was definitely considered a major figure in the Southern Qing City region!
They were the kind of existence that could stand guard over a region and ensure a clan’s foundation for a hundred years!
If an Immortal Cultivation Clan had a Qi Introduction Ninth Layer Realm Cultivator presiding over it,
that alone was enough for it to become a prominent local power,
which outsiders would not dare to look down upon.
But cultivating to the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer was not so simple.
Unless one came from a great, established clan with ample Heavenly and Earthly Treasures to aid their cultivation, allowing them to ignore bottlenecks in the process,
reaching the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer required a Cultivation Talent at the genius level, at least, far above that of ordinary people.
But geniuses were called geniuses
precisely because they were so much rarer than ordinary Cultivators.
Like the Qi Family, many Immortal Cultivation Clans and forces faced times when their younger generation failed to measure up. With no geniuses among their descendants, their decline was almost palpable.
At a time like this, if they could obtain a stalk of Cyan Essence Water Grass,
they could groom a clan disciple into a future expert at the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer Realm.
This would allow them to maintain their clan’s legacy and prevent its fall,
and if fortune smiled upon them,
and that disciple managed to use that sliver of a chance to advance to Soul Emergence,
it wouldn’t be impossible for the clan to leap up and become a Soul Emergence Clan.
From this, one could glimpse just how attractive the Cyan Essence Water Grass was to all parties.
It was precisely for this reason,
that in the three months since someone had actually found Cyan Essence Water Grass,
the conflicts and struggles in the outside world had grown increasingly fierce.
From time to time, people with obvious injuries could be seen passing through Dawan Village.
Missing an arm or a leg, clothes tattered and stained with blood, faces filled with savagery...
In the square where Loose Cultivators set up their stalls, many more blood-stained Storage Bags, Spirit Stones, Magical Artifacts, and other such items appeared on the various stands.
The air was thicker with the scent of blood and hostility.
This showed
just how intense the battles and killings outside had become.
However, none of this had affected Shen Changchuan for the time being.
Dawan Village itself stood under the banner of the Tian Nan Shen Clan,
and with the fearsome reputation Zhang Qingyuan had established, it was enough to deter the covetous eyes of the outside world.
In fact, what Shen Changchuan didn’t know was
that the village’s prosperity had indeed tempted some people.
But after deeper consideration,
those who had been tempted all gave up on the idea.
Dawan Village’s strength was definitely not as simple as it appeared.
The prestige of the Tian Nan Shen Clan went without saying,
and that Zhang Qingyuan, who was merely an ally invited by Shen Changchuan, possessed such immense power.
He had easily slaughtered the largest band of Tribulation Cultivators in Southern Qing City.
What about the others?
After all, the rumors at the time said that several people had taken part in slaying the Blood Slaughter Three Demons,
and Zhang Qingyuan was only one of them.
The others had yet to show themselves.
The Dawan Village Guardian, Shen Changchuan, could casually dispatch Zhang Qingyuan—a Demon of talent with extraordinary combat prowess—to escort a merchant caravan.
As for his own headquarters, which he personally guarded,
it was impossible that he had no other experts stationed there.
’If I carelessly run into an expert and lose my life, it wouldn’t be worth it...’
Because of this,
Dawan Village had, for the most part, remained stable,
and had not been attacked by any external enemies.
And this
also allowed Shen Changchuan to spend all his time in secluded cultivation refining the Purple Gold Pill, dedicating himself wholeheartedly to raising his Cultivation Realm.
However,
as the struggles and slaughter in the outside world grew fiercer, and the air of war and fire spread across the land,
more and more savage-looking Cultivators appeared within Dawan Village.
No one knew
if the flames of war would eventually spread to engulf Dawan Village.
In any case, the faces of Si Houqing and the other merchant association Shopkeepers were already etched with worry.
They couldn’t help but worry.
They were just small merchant associations that could only pick at the scraps in the countryside,
not like the local tyrants who could sit comfortably in Qing City, or the great merchants whose businesses spanned cities or even regions.
The strongest forces they could mobilize were only around the Qi Introduction Eighth Layer.
In the current chaotic situation,
if a free-for-all broke out,
they would likely have trouble even protecting themselves.
"Dawan Village is the territory of the Tian Nan Shen Clan. With the Shen Family here, no one should dare to risk universal condemnation and launch an attack..."
"That’s right. And Brother Shen has a wide network of friends. Not to mention Zhang Qingyuan, others can also help hold down the fort. It shouldn’t be a big problem..."
The shopkeepers of the major merchant associations comforted themselves this way.
There was no helping it.
Things had been chaotic lately,
but at the same time,
they had also earned a lot.
Far more than they had earned in the past few years just picking up scraps in the countryside.
The profits were so great
that they couldn’t bear to abandon everything and leave.
And just as everyone’s hearts were filled with anxiety,
a great rain arrived as if on schedule,
extinguishing the volatile atmosphere that had pervaded the Border Desolate Forest.
The rainy season
had arrived!
At some unknown point in time,
thick, heavy clouds like mountains blanketed the sky, casting a dim shadow over the world.
Sheets of rain, mixed with fierce winds, poured down from the nine heavens.
Amidst the ROAR of rain striking the leaves, the entire world turned into a vast, white expanse.
Between the mountains and forests,
the rainwater gathered into torrents.
Flash floods erupted,
and the entire world was almost transformed into a waterlogged kingdom.
At the same time,
an army of mountain leeches, hidden in unknown dark corners, also emerged quietly with the rain, densely covering every corner of the mountain forest.
This sudden, incessant downpour, along with the mountain leeches that covered the hills and plains, caused the killing intent permeating the forest to dissipate rapidly.
Countless unprepared Cultivators were caught off guard,
and thrown into a miserable state,
cursing as they scrambled to find caves or settlements to take shelter from the rain and rest.
There was no other way.
In the heavy rain outside, surrounded by mountain leeches everywhere, unless you constantly maintained a Magical Power Shield to repel the disgusting creatures that would leap over at the slightest hint of fluctuation,
otherwise, in just a short while, your entire body would be covered in a dense layer of leeches.
To constantly travel through the wilderness with a Magical Power Shield active,
even a Cultivator at the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer Realm would likely find that difficult to sustain!
Thus,
the murderous hostility of the battles in the mountain forest
was temporarily suppressed by the downpour.
